Harrington favourite to make early progress

WorldMatchplay: First round draw: As draws go, Padraig Harrington - seeded fifth despite being the 16th and last man to claim his place in the field - could have few qualms with his lot for the first round of the HSBC World Matchplay.

When yesterday's draw took place, the Dubliner was pitted against American Ryder Cup player Chris Riley for Thursday's first round and, on paper, would appear to be a strong favourite to advance.

Harrington is ranked eighth in the world, Riley 42nd. Given that this will be Riley's first appearance at Wentworth and that the match is over 36 holes, which reduces considerably the element of it becoming a lottery, Harrington - a finalist in this event in 2001 where he lost out to Ian Woosnam in a classic final - can take utmost advantage of his late call-up to an event that offers the largest prize in world golf of £1 million to the winner.

Unlike previous years, when the top four seeds were handed byes in the first round, the field has been increased from 12 to 16 players this year which means everyone plays from day one and, for the first time, the event also counts towards the Volvo Order of Merit.

If he were to overcome Riley, then Harrington would meet the winner of the match involving last year's US Masters champion, Mike Weir, of Canada, and Frenchman Thomas Levet, another member of Europe's winning Ryder Cup team.

Harrington is third on the European Tour money list but is a long way behind the leader, Ernie Els, who, however, concludes his campaign on this side of the Atlantic this week before resuming play on the US Tour.

Els, the defending champion, equalled the record of five wins in the event held by Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros with last year's win. That was the seventh win worldwide of his season (on the way to topping the European Order of Merit for the first time in his career), but Els will first come up against a player who has already won on the Wentworth course this season.

In the first round, the world's number two has been drawn with Scott Drummond, the surprise winner of the Volvo PGA Championship in May.

The winner of this match will meet whoever emerges from the encounter between KJ Choi, of Korea, and Argentina's Angel Cabrera.

Apart from Els, two other past champions have qualified for the head-to-head event. Lee Westwood, the winner in 2000, has been drawn against number six seed Todd Hamilton, the British Open champion, while Vijay Singh, the world number one, but seeded number two on this occasion as the defending champion is traditionally given the top seeding, has been drawn against Europe's Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer - a beaten finalist in 1983 and 1984 - in the opening series of matches.

The winner of the Singh-Langer match will come up against either Miguel Angel Jimenez, one of four European Ryder Cup players in the field, or American Steve Flesch.

Also in the bottom half of the draw are Retief Goosen, the number three seed, who meets American Jeff Maggert.

The winner goes on to face either Westwood or Hamilton.

THURSDAY (36 holes)

8.20 & 12.45: Ernie Els (South Africa) (1) v Scott Drummond (Scotland) (16)

8.32 & 12.57: K J Choi (Korea) (8) v Angel Cabrera (Argentina) (9)

8.44 & 13.09: Padraig Harrington (Ireland) (5) v Chris Riley (USA) (12)

8.56 & 13.21: Mike Weir (Canada) (4) v Thomas Levet (France) (13)

9.08 & 13.33: Retief Goosen (South Africa) (3) v Jeff Maggert (USA) (14)

9.20 & 13.45: Todd Hamilton (USA) (6) v Lee Westwood (England) (11)

9.32 & 13.57: Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) (7) v Steve Flesch (USA) (10)

9.44 & 14.09: Vijay Singh (Fiji) (2) v Bernhard Langer (Germany) (15)